American Natural History - Volume II - Part 1: Mastology w/ 19 full page engravings

Philadelphia: Stoddart and Atherton. Good. 1830. Second Edition. Leather. 330 pages; Former owner's name "J. Daggett" otherwise contents clean and text block securely stitched, full leather contemporary binding quite worn at spine, hinges splitting. Beautifully illustrated with 19 full page engravings of many species, including Mountain Goats, Moose, Deer, Gerbils, Opossum, Beaver, Flying Squirrel, Chickaree, Giant Sloth, Giant Mastodon, Marmot, etc. John Godman was an American naturalist. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1794, he died in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1830. He traveled extensively, and made important contributions to the understanding of the natural world in the new world. He began his career apprenticed to a printer in Baltimore, but joined the Navy when he was 20. When the war with Britain ended, Godman went to medical school and worked as a doctor until 1821, at which time he became a professor of medicine in Cincinatti, Ohio. He soon moved back to Philadelphia, becoming a professor of anatomy at Rutgers Medical Caollege. Poor health sent him to the West Indies.Returning to the United States, he settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he began his career as a naturalist and nature-writer. He wrote articles on zoology for the Encyclopedia Americana. He managed to complete his three-volume American Natural History between 1823 and 1828 as well as numerous other natural history writings before his untimely death from consumption (tuberculosis). .